The man who stabbed an Indian Hill teenager while she was out for a jog 10 years ago will be released from prison Wednesday.

It was a brutal attack that shocked neighbors and the community and almost killed Casey Hilmer. She shared her story of recovery and survival with WLWT News 5's Jackie Congedo.

Advertisement

If you come to Casey Hilmer's spin class, you'll leave stronger -- in muscle and mind.

"I really wanted to empower people through my classes. Through the whole experience," Hilmer said.

The 23-year-old knows something about empowerment; about choosing to survive after being literally beaten down.

"When I was grabbed off the street, the first thing that came to my mind was my family. I thought I was never going to see them again and I think that's what I really fought for," Hilmer said.

Ten years ago, at age 13, Hilmer was brutally attacked while on a run in her Indian Hill neighborhood. Her neighbor, Benjamin White, pulled her into the woods and stabbed her four times.

White took her young teenage innocence, but he couldn't steal her spirit or her drive to keep pushing forward.

"I remember being in the hospital and asking them, 'Can I run? Am I allowed to get back to running?'" Hilmer said.

Now, as a recent college graduate, Hilmer is showing others how to push their own limits. She and her mom just opened PowerRyde, a cycling studio in Loveland, with state-of-the-art bikes that pivot to push peddlers to a new peak.

"I want people to leave feeling more confident in themselves and feeling like when they're pushed to the edge or pushed to the limit, they still keep fighting," Hilmer said. "Because that's what I had to do and that's what you have to do in life. You can’t give up. You have to keep going, keep pushing, keep fighting."

While White will be returning to Hilmer’s neighborhood Wednesday, he'll be on house arrest for the first six months and he's not allowed to go past her house for the next five years. If he violates the terms of his release, he faces an additional 13 years in prison.